


Strangers Who Feel Like Home

by Idzzdi



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, I don't know how to tag this but it's going to be really good I swear :), M/M, Science Experiments, Strangers, au meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 01:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/933301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idzzdi/pseuds/Idzzdi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on an tumblr AU Meme - For a social experiment five boys agree to move in together even though they don’t know each other at all and things are bound to get complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Faces

**Author's Note:**

> Idk how this happened, but I’m writing a chaptered story again. And I’m really excited. I hope you are too!!
> 
> Find the meme this is based on here: http://lovedbyliam.tumblr.com/post/57736726831/au-meme-a-reality-show-about-five-complete

 

Niall doesn't really know why he does it. It's one of these things his mother would warn him about and if only she knew he was up to this she would probably shake her head in a very disappointed way.

He told himself he did it for the money, once he got accepted. When he had applied he hadn't really thought he was every going to get in anyways, but then he got the letter and well. It's 10,000 quid for six weeks, so come _on_. Who wouldn't do it?

So now he is dragging his packed suitcase with him, munching on a croissant and balancing a cup of coffee in the same hand. It's a little complicated but nothing worth giving up on the food. So it takes him a little longer than planned, but the walk from the train station to the TV studios is short and he makes it there in under ten minutes, despite almost spilling his coffee twice and probably not making a particularly pretty picture while eating. Niall's not really the type of guy to care though.

When he gets to the studio the girl at the gate points him the right direction and he gets rid of his empty coffee cup on the way down the hallway, curiously trying to catch a glimpse through doors left ajar.

The letter he had gotten reads Studio 7 and once he gets there he is greeted by another woman, who is smiling at him warmly.

“Niall Horan, isn't it?” she asks and Niall nods.

“Yeah, hi. I'm here for the, er, lock in type of thing.”

“Of course,” she laughs. “We have a couple more papers for you to sign and then you can move right in.”

He spends almost an hour in an little office with her, signing loads of non disclosure forms and all that before she takes his phone from him and asks whether he has any other form of communication device on him. He doesn't, but he kind of wishes he had brought another phone. Six weeks, absolutely cut off from the real world, stuck in a 100m² apartment with four other strangers. _Heya_.

The idea sounds worse the closer he gets to actually go into the apartment. Which isn't even actually an apartment, but just a TV studio built to look like it was an apartment. Basically it's a prison.

Before Niall can ponder on that thought for too long though he is being led out of the office again and towards a large red door that looks an awful lot like the entrance to hell.

“One of you new roommates should be there already,” the woman tells him with one last smile as she opens the door for him and watches expectantly as Niall drags his suitcase after him, entering his new home.

“Hello?” he calls tentatively but there is no response so maybe the woman was wrong and he's the first. Which wouldn't be too bad he figures, because that would give him first pick on the bedrooms.

From the hallway in which he is standing now he can see seven doors leading into different rooms. He peeks into the first couple of rooms and find that they are all bed rooms, one of which is indeed taken already. One black suitcase is sitting on the bed, but other than that the rooms seems to be untouched.

Niall decides to take the room opposite of the one already taken and drops his suitcase and bag before poking through the rest of the rooms in search of his new room mate.

Halfway down the corridor he finds the bathroom, which technically isn't small, but considering that he is going to have to share that one sink with four other people for six weeks now, he prays that they have _somebody_ in their group who is fond of cleaning. Or at least knows how to do it more properly than Niall does.

There is only one door left at the end of the hallway and as Niall pushes through it he finds himself standing in what he thinks must be the living room. It's pretty large and there are some couches, a TV, a large table with more chairs than necessary and on the far end of the room Niall can spot the kitchen corner. It's open and a little bigger than the bathroom maybe. He takes two steps towards it before he notices the boy sitting on one of the bar stools, staring at him. Niall flinches and jumps a tiny bit, suppressing a manly squeal as he takes in the boy who's lips are quirking upwards now as he watches Niall recover from the scare.

“Well, hello,” Niall says as he tries to cover up how scared he was for a moment, sauntering across the room to meet the new boy. He has dark hair and dark eyes and also a dark skin. Niall notices that he is holding a cigarette between his fingers and exhales smoke slowly as he stares back at Niall.

“Um, I'm Niall,” the boy says awkwardly as he he doesn't get a reply from the mysterious man and holds out his hand for the man to shake. Dark eyes looks down at Niall's hand then up at his face again and takes another drag from his cigarette.

“Zayn,” he says offhandedly, without taking Niall's hand. “And I'm here for the money, not to make friends.”

“Well then,” Niall breathes, raising his eyebrows and pulling his hand back. “Could be quite dull not talking to anyone for six weeks.”

“Reckon that's my problem to worry about, eh?” Zayn says back and yeah. He's probably right about that, but Niall really hopes that not everybody came _only_ for the money. If he has no one to talk to for six weeks straight he might as well use his 10 grand to get himself a nice spot I a mental facility.

The next stranger that arrives though, makes Niall brighten up and is probably Zayn's worst nightmare. Upon arrival he doesn't only come skipping down the hallway towards the living room/kitchen right away, but he is also singing and he is hugging Niall and Zayn both. A quick look at Zayn lets Niall know that the boy is about ready to go home, but the newest addition to their little group is ranting on about something and draws Niall's attention away from moody Zayn.

“.. and so I just brought some of them, as well as all my DVDs. Oh my God, I'm Harry by the way, hi. I don't usually talk this much. But hi, what's your names? Sorry.”

He's a right mess and Niall can't help but laugh. “I'm Niall, that's Zayn,” he says pointing towards the boy behind him who had gotten up from his chair carefully and was now backing away slowly, trying not to capture Harry's attention.

“That's so exciting!” Harry chirps, grabbing the chair Zayn had discarded. “It's gonna be the best six weeks of our lives. We're gonna watch TV together and get to know each other and I'm gonna cook for all of us. _And_ we're getting paid for it,” he says beaming at Niall now, since Zayn had wandered off to the far end of living room, plopping down on one of the sofas.

“Yeah, amazing,” Niall says not really enthusiastically, though he can already feel Harry's good mood rub off on him. “Cooking sounds nice. I cook a bit myself, too.”

“Oh.” Harry looks taken aback. “Well. We'll see who's the better cook then, won't we?” he continues and it sounds sassy, offended almost.

“I- Yeah, I guess,” Niall trails off, not really understanding where this is coming from, but his worry is interrupted when they hear the front door open again and another male voice calling out a tentative hello.

“We're in the kitchen,” Harry yells back and Niall thinks about telling him that the new boy probably doesn't know where the kitchen is, but a moment later a short brow-haired boy comes stumbling through the door, almost falling over the giant suitcase he is dragging with him. Or maybe the suitcase isn't so giant, the boy is just tiny.

“Hi,” the boy breathes, sounding a little exhausted, but beaming brightly at all three of them. “I'm Louis. And that's my suitcase Billy. I think he might weigh more than me.” He laughs and Harry laughs with him. Niall can't help but crack a smile himself, though eying Zayn from the corner of his eyes he can see the dark haired boy roll his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Hi Louis, hi Billy!” Harry laughs, walking across the room to give Louis a welcoming hug. And Billy as well. “That's Niall and the grumpy pants over here is Zack.”

Niall only sees Zayn roll his eyes again, letting his head thumb back against the couch and hiding his eyes in the crook of his elbow. As predicted Niall thinks that Zayn is going to have a really though six weeks with his attitude. But as Zayn said, that isn't Niall's problem to worry about.

Niall watches Harry and Louis chat for a bit, always keeping half an eye of Zayn in the corner of the room, who looks more and more ready to go home already. Niall can feel him in a way. Even though the other three boys don't seem particularly horrible, Niall can't really see himself living with all of them for six weeks with no chance to get away without going mental. Especially not with Harry who is now not only talking to Louis, but also Billy. Niall prays that Louis learns from this and makes a mental note to think about the jokes he makes around Harry, who apparently has the mental age of a toddler.

“So there's still one missing, isn't there?” Louis asks after a while, looking from Harry to Niall and then to Zayn.

“Yeah, we're supposed to be five,” Harry agrees.

“You think it's gonna be a girl?” Niall asks, not meaning anything in particular, just being interested.

“No, I don't think so,” Louis says shaking his head. “I think I heard somewhere that they're doing girl's and guy's groups individually.”

“Oh, okay,” Niall nods, thinking about their situation. It is so strange really. A research project. Some scientist’s mad game, seeing how total strangers live together. Everything recorded by cameras and once a day they have single interviews where they will be asked different questions. And as strange as they whole thing seems, Niall is weirdly excited and anxious at the same time about tasks they will have to do or obstacles they will have to overcome in their daily routine. (Like sharing _one_ bathroom with _five_ people. Oh God.)

A tentative knock on the door is what pulls Niall back into reality and his eyes wander to the door connecting the living room with the hallway. Standing there is the last boy to arrive, his hair short and his eyes wide.

“Hi, sorry,” he says carefully.

“Welcome!” Harry exclaims taking two quick steps towards the boy, and wrapping his long arms around him in a tight hug. Louis isn't far behind, hugging his as well.

“Oh,” the new boy blushes as Harry and Louis pull back, beaming at him.

“I'm Harry, what's your name?”

“Um, Liam,” the boy says tentatively and Niall feels a little bad for him being attacked by Harry and Louis before even getting two words out.

“Hi Liam,” Louis says, still beaming widely. “I'm Louis.”

Liam gives him a small smile and carefully steps back the tiniest bit, before letting his eyes travel towards Zayn on the couch and Niall in the kitchen.

“I'm Niall,” Niall decides to go ahead, giving the new boy a small wave. “Don't worry, I'm not a hugger,” he adds with a laugh and the corners of Liam's lips tug up lightly.

“I'm Zayn,” the boy from the corner of the room says, sitting up a little bit from his sunken in position on the couch. Liam gives him a crocked smile.

“Right, then,” Louis starts, clapping his hands together and drawing everyone's attention towards him. “Now that we're all here.. what's the plan?”

“We should play truth or dare or something, to get to know each other better,” Harry suggests eagerly and Niall can't help but feel like this is a bad idea. Fortunately Zayn is on his side and sinks back into the sofa, shaking his head.

“Not a chance in hell,” he mutters, running his hands over his face.

“Well, how about we all unpack first,” Liam suggests, looking down the hallway towards the direction of their bedrooms. “Everyone gets settled in and then we can eat dinner together and talk a little maybe?”

“Sounds great,” Niall says right away jumping off his chair when he sees Harry's mouth opening in protest.

And so they all trail off to their separate rooms, digging through their suitcases. Niall can hear Louis and Harry laugh across the hallway, with both their room's doors open. He doesn't really mind, but when later on he catches a glimpse at Zayn who is rubbing his temples soothingly in an effort to stay calm, he figures not everyone might be as willing or capable to adjust as he is.

Trying not to let his mind wander to all the places and scenarios that can possibly go wrong with five strangers put together in one apartment, Niall takes his time unpacking and stowing his clothes away. He is halfway done when there is a quite knock on his door.

“Yeah?” he asks and really shouldn’t be surprised when Liam's head pops through the gap in the door. Louis or Harry surely wouldn't be mindful enough to knock and Zayn already told him that he isn't interested in their interaction in any way.

“Hi, sorry,” Liam apologizes upon stepping halfway through the door.

“It's okay, what's up?” Niall tells him, casually motioning for Liam to sit wherever but the boy only shakes his head, holding onto the door.

“Erm, I was wondering if you were hungry? I was going to make some dinner and.. yeah.”

“Sure.” Niall gives him a smile. “Might wanna ask Harry before though, he wanted to cook, I think.”

“Oh,” is all Liam says, but he nods and then quickly steps back out, closing the door behind him. Only a few moments later Niall can hear Harry's excited screaming and then quick footsteps jumping towards the kitchen. The thought of the overly excited curly haired boy whirling through the kitchen makes Niall smile, but at the same time fear for his life at the thought of eating whatever Harry comes up with. Who knows he isn't going to add his own 'special' ingredients?

 

~

 

Thirty minutes later Harry is singing the 'It's Time To Eat' song he came up with while making dinner at the top of his lungs and Niall figures it's time to leave his own room an go find the others in the kitchen.

When he gets there he finds Harry stirring in one of three pots and Louis is setting the table. Liam is sitting on the couch, reading a book and Niall wonders how on earth he manages to concentrate with Harry singing in the background. Louis gives Niall a smile as he approaches and watches he plops down in one of the seats.

“You need help with something?” Niall asks a bit belatedly, since he has already taken a seat.

“No, it's fine,” Louis says, taking a seat opposite of him. “Liam, can you go get Zack?”

“His name is Zayn,” Liam mumbles back, his eyes still fixed on the page he is reading on but he gets up slowly.

“His name should be grumpy pants,” Louis says back, grinning at Niall for approval. Niall cracks a smile at him.

“Maybe, if you learned his name he wouldn't be grumpy,” Liam says back, putting his book down a little more forcefully than necessary and leaving the room to go fetch Zayn.

“Maybe, if you learned his name he wouldn't be grumpy,” Louis repeats trying to mimic Liam's voice and Niall had to bit his lip in order to keep from laughing. Fortunately Liam is gone already anyway, because Niall is sure he would have been offended by how loud Harry laughed at Louis' joke.

Liam gets back a little later with Zayn in tow and they all take seats around the table as Harry brings over bowls with potatoes and vegetables and some meat.

“No vegetarians, I hope,” he says as he sets the last plate down and takes a seat himself. They all share an expectant look, but as nobody says anything Harry only smiles.

“Perfect. Well, dig in then.”

And so they all eat, mostly in silence because nobody really knows what to say. Even Harry and Louis keep their eyes on their own plates and there is no giggling or playing footsie as Niall had expected.

When they're done Liam helps Harry put the dirty dishes in the sink and they come back with fresh glasses and a bottle of wine.

“So,” Harry prompts when all the glasses are filled, raising his own. “To a good six weeks.”

“To a good six weeks,” they all mumble in reply, taking sips of their glasses after. The silence that follows is awkward but short. Liam sits up a little straighter, playing with the hem of the table cloths as he clears his throat

“Erm, I was thinking.. We should probably make a couple of rules,” he says tentatively and it sounds more like he is asking their approval. “Divide up the tasks. Like doing the dishes, and cleaning and all that.”

“Rules?” Louis asks, cocking an eyebrow up at Liam. He doesn't say anything else, but Niall can tell he's not exactly excited about the idea.

“Sounds okay,” Zayn says with a shrug and Niall thinks that anything that minimizes social interaction is going to be okay with Zayn.

“Well, I wanna be on kitchen duty then!” Harry says right away. “I can cook properly and do some baking and stuff.”

“Okay,” Liam nods, folding his hands. “What do you think, Niall?”

“Um,” Niall hesitates. “Sounds okay, yeah. I'm pretty good in the kitchen, too, I think.”

“I called dibs already,” Harry interjects and Liam and Niall both turn to look at him.

“We could switch,” Liam offers, but Harry talks right over him.

“I'm the better cook anyway.”

“You can't say that,” Niall says with a laugh, seeing the implied challenge.

“Yes, I can.”

“Well I think _I_ 'm the better cook,” Niall says good naturedly, but Harry only glares at him. He glares, purses his lip and then gets up without another word and leaves the room. The four remaining boys sit in silence for a while, three of them (all but Zayn, of course) watching the door through which Harry had just left with big eyes.

“Oh, I-” Niall starts, but he doesn't really know what to say. He didn't mean to offend the boy. It was just banter, right? When he tells the other boys that they only shrug.

“We're all a little tense,” Liam says wisely folding and unfolding his hands again. “Maybe we should call it an early night and wait till tomorrow to make the rules.”

“Yeah,” Louis says lamely, his eyes still fixed on the door. “I'm gonna go make sure Harry is okay. Good night, yeah?”

“Yeah, night,” Liam agrees quietly and Niall gives him a nod watching as he leaves. After Louis is gone they sit in silence again for a while and Niall is nervously drinking his wine.

“Three weeks,” Zayn says suddenly out of nowhere and Liam and Harry both turn to look at him.

“What?”

“I give them three weeks,” Zayn explains, but Liam and Niall are still staring at him rather cluelessly. “Three weeks and until they fuck,” he elaborates and Liam and Niall both raise skeptical eyebrows at that.

“How do you-?” Niall starts but Zayn cuts him off.

“Oh come on! We haven't even been here for more then six hours and just look at the way they look at each other. I bet you 20 quid they're cuddled up in Harry's bed right now.”

“Well, that doesn't mean they're- I mean we don't even know if they're-” Liam stammers, looking down at his hands awkwardly.

“Yes, we know. My gaydar tells me that there's a 99,9% chance that they're gay. For each other,” Zayn says matter-of-factly and all Niall can do is nod. It does sound plausible in a way. Even though he knows nothing about gay people. Except..

“Don't usually only gay people have gaydars?” he asks and as the silence between the three of the drags on Niall realizes that that might have been a very naïve question to ask.

“Well,” Zayn says and he nods once before getting up from his chair. “It's getting late. Gentlemen,” he mock salutes then and the saunters off, leaving Niall and Liam alone at the table.

“I guess I just know how to make people leave,” Niall says once Zayn is gone and Liam gives him a small smile.

“Yeah, that was kind of awkward,” he agrees though quietly.

“Yeah,” Niall nods thoughtfully. “But I mean what are the odds that out of a group of five guys three of them are gay?” Liam doesn't reply for a moment and only takes the last sip of his wine before getting up and clearing the table of their wine glasses quietly. Once he is done he stands by his chair and looks like he contemplates taking a seat again or going to bed. In the end he looks down at Niall and gives him one of those crocked smiles.

“Four,” he says quietly, but Niall doesn't quite understand. “Four out of five,” Liam adds then and with one last smile he backs out of the room as well and Niall is left alone sitting at the large table in the most absurd situation he has found himself in in a while.

 

~

 

The next morning Niall is woken up by a lot of things happening at the same time. The first thing he realizes is that it's incredibly bright in his room, even though he still has his eyes closed. He knows that since they're in a studio that there aren't any real windows and no sunlight streaming through the curtains, so he figures somebody must have turned the lights on.

Keeping his eyes tightly shut Niall turns over and from the general commotion he can hear going on in the hallway he also figures that somebody must have opened the door.

Next a wave of incredibly bacon-smelly air hits him and lifts his spirit despite the early hour. Or at least he thinks it's an early hour because his brain feels nowhere near awake and his arms and legs feel too heavy to get up.

Unfortunately a moment later a loud happy voice comes ringing through his room and makes Niall turn over again, trying to hide his face underneath the pillow.

“Well, good morning. Get up,” Liam chirps, tugging on the duvet Niall is holding close to his body. “I made breakfast.”

“Hgn,” Niall grumbles in response, shifting his head a little so his mouth is poking out and he can speak. “What time's it?” he slurs sleepily and Liam laughs.

“Don't worry I let you lot sleep in,” he promises, tugging on the duvet again. “It's almost nine already.”

Niall wants to laugh, because he thinks Liam must be kidding him. There is no way the boy thinks sleeping till nine is sleeping in. Nine is the perfect time to roll over again and sleep for another three hours. So Niall tells Liam that. Or maybe he thinks he does, because halfway through the sentence he is off into the dreamland already, forgetting out the strange boy sitting on the edge of his bed.

He sleeps quite well considering the circumstances and when he wakes just past noon he feels rested and relaxed. Yawing he rolls over again, stretching his arms above his head and listening as the joints in his back pop satisfyingly.

It takes him another fifteen minutes to actually get out of bed and pad across the hallway into the bathroom to take a quick shower. Once he is all dressed and ready to face the four other boys he is currently living with he pads on into the kitchen, looking for the lot.

When he gets into the living room and spots Harry and Louis sitting on the couch and watching TV he tries not to think about the conversation they had last night. Any of it.

“Morning, Niall,” Harry mumbles distractedly, his eyes fixed on the screen. Niall mumbles a quick “Good morning,” back, but can't help but feel a little relieved to see that the curly haired boy doesn't seem mad at him about last night. Wouldn't be smart to pick a fight with his new roommates the first day he gets there.

“Hey,” Niall greets as he enters the kitchen where he finds Liam doing the dishes and Zayn sitting on a bar stool, watching the other boy quietly. When Niall speaks up Liam turns around to face him, but Zayn doesn't even bother.

“Look who's finally up,” Liam says and it sounds very mother-ish from his mouth. Niall only grins sheepishly at him.

“Well, looks like I won't need to bother making breakfast any more, if you all are just going to sleep in till _whenever_ ,” he hisses and Niall feels a little bit guilty.

“I..” Niall starts, trailing off and looking at Zayn for help. The boy still has his eyes fixed on Liam, but gives Niall a noncommittal shrug. “Sorry?” he tries then, but Liam only huffs in response, turning back towards his dishes.

“Don't worry about it,” Louis says all the sudden from behind Niall. “Liam likes the guilt-trip. Don't fall for it,” he explains with a grin, but as Niall looks from Louis back to Liam he can his hands trembling over the sink.

“We can still have lunch together,” Niall suggests quickly, trying to save the situation before it gets out of hand.

“Yeah, great idea,” Harry chirps in and jumps up from the couch. Niall can't tell if he is just excited about the food or if he can sense the tension going on in the room. “I'll whip something up, you don't have to worry about it Liam,” he says with a friendly smile.

Liam nods quickly and turns back around to scrub off a plate he had cleaned twice already.

“Here, let me help you,” Zayn says and gets up from his seat, taking a towel from one of the drawers as he starts drying off the dishes Liam does.

Niall watches for a while and then pokes Louis is the side. “Come on, let's set the table,” he suggests, mostly to keep his hands busy and Louis' mind as well before he can come up with another stupid thing to say. As they get down to work Niall is quite sure he can hear Louis mumble under his breath and catches the words “Liam” and “stick up his arse” in the same sentence.

Well then, Niall thinks. It's going to be some _long_ six weeks.


	2. Mind Over Matter Or Something Like That

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam doesn't really like his new flatmates. Especially not when he's in the shower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a while. Sorry guys. but there’s naked Liam in this, so I’m sure it’ll make up for the wait. xx
> 
> Feedback is awesome as always!!

The five boys have been in their newly shared 'flat' for just over a week now and Liam is finding living with the other four boys more and more strange. The longer he lives there the more he is convinced that he is actually the only mentally stable person there and also the only one who is at least a tiny bit decent.

He tells one of the scientists that in his one on one interview on the eighth day. The man only gives him a tired smile and the a nod, making a note on a form he has been filling out while Liam speaks.

“I mean, I don't want to talk bad about the other guys,” Liam says, shrugging helplessly “but if you're asking my honest opinion there aren't many nice things I can say.”

“I _am_ asking your honest opinion,” the scientist stresses again, tapping his pen on the table in between them in unnerving manner. Liam nods. They are silent for a while and Liam thinks the man is probably waiting for him to say something, but Liam really can't think of anything that wouldn't sound like he's out right complaining.

“Well,” he starts mindlessly, trying to think of a moment that felt quiet okay, nice maybe in the past week. “I guess they're okay to watch TV with? I mean- well Louis never stops talking, but now that Harry keeps him preoccupied it's only Niall's incredibly loud munching sounds that actually keeps me from hearing anything. But if we barricade him in the kitchen area then we might actually get a quiet twenty minutes.”

“ _We_?”

“Well, Zayn and I.” The scientist cocks an eyebrows at him. “He's _okay_ , I reckon,” Liam admits with a shrug then. “Turns out him not talking at all is a big plus, if you ask me. Unless he reeks of smoke which is like all the _freaking_ time. Wasn't this a non-smoking project? Doesn't it say somewhere in my contract that I'm entitled to healthy air?”

Liam is overdoing it a tiny bit, he knows it. But he really, really loathes the smell of cigarettes and the more stressful their lives together get the more Zayn smokes. Which is sad, because Liam wasn't lying when he implied that Zayn is the only person he can really stand being around right now.

“So how's life then?” the scientist asks then, totally ignoring Liam's accusations. “Other than you obviously being the only 'normal' person involved in this project.” He is using air quotes around the word 'normal' and Liam knows he's mocking him, so he huffs loudly and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“Horrible,” he bites and even though he is in a pissy mood now he really does mean it. His body and his soul (or karma or chakra or whatever you want to call it) are in unbalance with the lack or sport and the amount of stress he has had in the past week. Jogging around the flat and down the hallway doesn't really work (he's tried it) and also quick workout sessions in the living room turn out to be quite complicated.

The other boys complain when it smells of sweat and when he pushes the furniture around to created space or misplaces things in search of objects the can function as weights. He made the mistake to use two of Harry's water bottles the other day for an upper body work out and when the younger boy had come in he had yelled at him for using the “good bottled water, jesus christ” for his “stupid sport shenanigans, stop it!”.

So not only is Liam's body buzzing with excessive energy he doesn't know how to get rid of, but he is also putting on weight. He is loosing muscles _and_ putting on weight, which must mean than he putting on really freaking much weight. It's frustrating. But not surprising really.

Harry claims himself king of the kitchen so nobody else is allowed to cook and after the one time Niall had tried challenging Harry over it which had ended with one big blow, nobody else had tried. Just to be on the save side.

The downside is that Harry never even gets up before 10 am (none of the other boys do, especially not Niall) so Liam usually has the house to himself for a couple of hours in the morning. Often times he does his one on one interview then, like today, but not always. And then he is sitting in the quite flat, his stomach grumbling lowly at him and he wants to eat. Wants real breakfast, but he can't. Harry clearly said not to touch the fridge and Liam wouldn't be surprised if Harry has a movement tracker or security camera installed. Or a detailed list of every item in the fridge.

Anyway it's bad enough for Niall having created a secret stash of random food in his room under his bed, because he says he eats a lot. And well having lived with Niall for a week Liam has had to reevaluate his definition of 'eats a lot'. Before meeting Niall he would have said he eats a lot himself, after all he is still growing and needs protein and all that. But now, having met Niall and seen him eat Liam thinks his eating habit can he described as 'eats a 10th of what Niall eats', if you're being generous.

But since Niall's secret food stash is in Niall's room under his bed and he doesn't ever get up until Liam has died twice from hunger he usually ends up eating the only thing he can find – and access – in the apartment. Leftovers from the night before. Which 6/8 nights happens to be pizza, which is really freaking disgusting.

The first morning Liam had been slightly intrigued, feeling like he was back in middle school, still young and not mindful of his body. He would eat everything back then, even pizza for breakfast. Once he started caring though he ate less pizza and more wholegrain granola.

And then he got to this crazy place and his whole diet plans was tossed in the wind. Mostly by Harry who only has two rules in the kitchen.

 

1\. Everything tastes better with sauce/gravy.

2\. Real sauce/gravy needs at least half a liter of cream.

 

So yeah, _goodbye abs_.

Liam doesn't tell the scientist all that, but some of it, leaving out how selfconscious he is about his body in favor of stressing how badly he needs a good long run.

Just a couple of kilometers.

Twenty or so.

The scientist smiles at him, but shakes his head. He tells him that he can't leave, that it would ruin the experiment and that he needs to find another way to get rid of some of the stress. “If you know what I mean,” he adds with a wink and yes thank you, Liam knows. He just isn't a big fan.

He doesn't really know how he pictures this going for the next five weeks, because he is fairly certain he can't go six weeks without a good wank.

 _But_.

But he would much rather go without the wank then standing the mortification of being walked in on by any of the boys. Because frankly, well, they can't lock their rooms and except for Zayn (who never goes to see anyone anyways) none of the boys so much as knock before storming right on in. It's horrific.

The scientist sends him off and Liam trots back through the large red door into the still quiet apartment. Liam doesn't mind the early spots for the one-on-ones and it's only eight thirty now, so he thinks he has still got another hour to himself, before the other boys slowly crawl out of the bedrooms.

Another _hour_ he thinks and tries not to think about what the scientist has said and what's on his mind right now. But the picture is there and the idea of a wank sounds so _good_ right now.

No, Liam can't. Not in his room. Not when Louis will wake up and think it's a great idea to come cuddle Liam awake.

No. Just- no.

The problem is that Liam can already feel his body telling him that it's been too long. That it doesn't matter that somebody could walk in and that really what are the chances of that? They're all asleep.

And before Liam knows it his little problem is a big problem. A big problem that strains against Liam's trousers and makes him feel a little lightheaded as he walks and the problem brushes against his pants.

Liam is determined not to give into his body, so instead of going back to his room where he could be tempted to do stupid things with his stupid problem, Liam goes to the bathroom. The bathroom with the shower. With the cold water that will hopefully solve his problem.

When he gets there he shuts the door firmly (because they can't fucking lock that door either, which is just so _stupid_ , but they all agreed, that when the door is shut they won't walk in. They have yet to see how that works out). He strips off his clothes and thinks he has a deja vu, because he has done that once already today, before he went to do his one-on-one.

His problem bobs free and up against his stomach as he pulls his pants off and Liam presses his lips together, not sure if what he's keeping inside is a curse or a moan. Either way, it better stays where it came from.

Liam quickly gets in the shower and turns the water on, closing his eyes momentarily. When he opens them again he finds that his hands are disobeying the commands from his brain and instead of turning the water as cold as possible his one hand settles for turning the water trickling down his body a nice and warm temperature while the other is already wrapped around his throbbing problem, pumping it quickly.

“For God's sake,” Liam mutters, giving into his body and propping himself up against the tiles and resting his forehead against the cool glass door while his hand is still busy taking care of his problem. The other hand is wandering freely now, roaming over his chest and tugging on his nipples, twisting them deliciously before it travels lower and lower between his cheeks.

He doesn't do it often, too messy and dirty he thinks, but it feels so good right now as he slowly slips two fingers inside himself, scissoring them open slowly. A moan escapes his lips and Liam tries to keep it down, glad for the water still running down around him loudly.

His fingers work inside him and his other hand is flying over his cock, rubbing it quickly and hard and everything feels _so good_ , Liam is _so close_ to the edge, but-

“Hey, sorry gotta ignore the no coming in rule I _really_ need a fucking piss!” Louis exclaims as the throws the door open and Liam can feel all the blood drain for his face. And his dick, which is still throbbing painfully.

But he can't say anything, his fingers still inside him, his hand still wrapped around his cock, because he just plain mortified, wishes to die on the spot as he stares at Louis who stands with his back towards Liam, letting out a loud satisfying sigh as he pisses.

“Man that was close,” he laughs, but Liam still can't react. “You okay?” he asks then, probably worried by Liam's lack of shouting and telling him to get the fuck out. His eyebrows are quirked up when he turns around and does up his fly, but narrow when he catches a look at Liam's hunched over position. His fingers up his ass and his hand around his cock, still unmoved.

“You having a wank there, mate?” Louis asks with a laugh, a smirk curling around his lips. Liam is still frozen into place, unable to say anything, unable to lie and deny. Louis laughs. “Well, don't let me stop you from anything,” he adds then and leaves the bathroom, the door still wide open.

Liam wants to yell at him and kill him and the curse his family and Harry and everyone else who lives in the apartment and he already regrets every single decision he's ever made in life that led up to this point. He hates his body for betraying him, for not being able to go a measly week without an orgasm (which he still hasn't gotten).

But most of all Liam just wants to roll over and die, not seeing a way he could ever – _ever_ – face Louis again after this. Or any of the other boys frankly, because Liam is 110% sure they will all know about the indecent in less than two minutes. Louis would even wake grumpy Niall to tell a story like this.

 _Great_.

He doesn't realize what he's doing until his hands are running down his face, rubbing his eyes. He tries not to think of the grosser end of where his fingers have been just a moment ago and pulls them away, pouring a generous amount of soap onto them to rub them clean, before turning the water as cold as possible. Not that he really needs it any more, because Louis pretty much ruined the mood, but he feels like he deserves standing in the ice cold spray, shivering violently.

A couple minutes later he hears footsteps trotting down the hallway, closer towards the bathroom. He can't really see what's going on, but through the opened door he can hear Zayn call down the hallway.

“Louis, are you in the bathroom?”

“No, go ahead. It's clear,” Liam hears Louis call back with a laugh, but this time Liam is prepared.

“Don't you dare set a foot in the bathroom,” he right out yells at Zayn who is frozen in the doorway, looking shocked for his life.

“Stop starring and get the fuck out _right now_!” Liam yells again and Zayn yelps a tiny bit before lowering his eyes. He has the decency to close the door as he storms out and down the hallway, yelling about how he will chop Louis' balls off. Liam can hear him laugh maniacally.

 

~

 

Liam spends two long hours in the bathroom after that. He still can't lock the door, but believes that the other boys have either heard his little freakout or heard about it, so nobody comes to disturb him. He is acting childish, he knows, but he can't help it. He just feels so embarrassed he still thinks the roll over and die option is his best choice right now.

But it doesn't work. He's laying on the bathroom floor and has rolled over many a times, none of which he has died. So maybe it's not his day yet he thinks, as he powerlessly pushes himself up to glance at himself in the mirror above the sink. He looks horrible, he can admit that.

Sexually frustrated, mortified to death and starting to get chubby again for the lack of work out. He can't tell on his stomach yet (thank God), but he can see it on his face, his cheeks.

He tries not to think of the disgusting part of _everything_ on him as he pulls on the clothes he had discarded before his shower earlier on. He had only worn them for the one-on-one this morning so he thinks it's okay to put them back on and also he is not too keen on making it down the hallway to his rooms bare-naked. On the other hand, two of his roommates have already seen him without his kit on, one of them even with his fingers up his arse, so really what does it even matter?

But while in his head Liam might be sassy and snappy about the incident in real life he's still horribly mortified and waits until he can hear all four boys fussing in the kitchen over their lunch/late breakfast before he dashes out the bathroom and into his own room, closing the door behind him firmly and diving right into bed.

He pulls the blanket over his head in an effort to hide from the judgmental looks the entire world seems to shoot him. His life is one big disaster.

Liam thinks if maybe he can ask the scientists to let him go early. He doesn't even want the money anymore. Okay, he does, but even more than the 10k he wants to leave. To never see any of the boys again. He can only imagine them mocking him about having his fingers up his arse. Well great.

He lays in silence for a while and lets his thoughts wander, thinks about how he can get out of here without having to face the boys again. It could be hard making in out the large front door without them hearing and getting curious. Maybe if he runs..

A knock on the door interrupts his thoughts and his body tenses underneath the blanket. He doesn't answer. But the knocking doesn't stop, accompanied by a quiet “Liam? Liam?”. Liam still doesn't answer and when he hears the knocking hesitate for a moment he thinks the intruder has gone and left him alone.

A short moment later though there is another, tentative quiet knock. “Liam, I'm coming in, alright?” he hears Zayn's muffled voice ask, but still doesn't reply. He keeps his eyes firmly shut, thinking that if Zayn walks in and sees him hidden under the blanket he will get the hint and just leave.

However, he can hear the door only open the tiniest bit, Zayn's voice clearer now, but still no footsteps shuffling into the room.

“Are you, er, decent? I mean-” Zayn cuts himself off and Liam bites his lower lip as it carefully curls up into a slow smile. The silence drags on for a while and Zayn coughs awkwardly.

“Well, I- Nothing I haven't seen yet today then, I reckon,” he drawls lowly and Liam can hear him push the door all the way open, stepping in carefully. The smile from his lips has fallen with Zayn's reminder of the incident earlier today.

“Oh, hey,” Zayn says softly as he probably spots the bundle of Liam's body and many blankets on the bed and a moment later Liam can feel the mattress dip and a warm hand, settling softly against the small of his back.

They stay like that for a while and if Liam thought about poking his head out of the blanket fort he had created earlier, he was sure that now that chance was gone. He couldn't stand Zayn gazing down at him with big eyes.

“Right, well so-” Zayn starts awkwardly, poking Liam's side lightly trying to coax him out of his nest of blankets. _Never in a million years_ , Liam thinks and buries his noes even deeper into his pillow.

“I'm, erm, sorry about before. I didn't mean to, you know, walk in on you, er, naked. Louis just said it was clear so I thought.. Yeah. I don't know what I thought. I even heard the shower running and I was wondering about that, but.. erm,” he stops for a moment and Liam thinks he must he right thick for thinking the shower was running for no reason and for believing Louis on top of everything.

“And, and Louis said he, er, he saw you-” Zayn starts again, stuttering slowly, but Liam cuts him off.

“No,” he snaps from underneath the blanket and Zayn is quiet for a long moment after that, probably taken aback by Liam's sudden change in mind to speak after all.

“Well, he said-”

“No,” Liam barks again. “He's lying.”

“Oh.” Zayn hesitates. “Okay.” He draws the word out like he is not sure he really means it, like he doesn't know what to believe. There is silence again and Liam is pretty sure Zayn wants him to explain, probably looks down at the spot where he suspects Liam's head with his big brown eyes and that wondering look in his eyes. But Liam's won't explain. Can't explain, because what the hell should he say?

They sit in silence for so long that Liam thinks Zayn must be close to giving up, close to just getting up and leaving the boy. He thinks maybe he is going to tell Liam to get his shit together or to not bother coming to watch TV with them tonight, like they do every night. Because Liam is weird.

What he doesn't expect Zayn to do is to squeeze his hip firmly with his hand, rustling around and probably bending down because when he speaks again his voice is a lot closer to Liam's ear than before.

“So do you want me to lay with you for a bit or?” he asks quietly and it doesn't sound cocky or convinced at all, more like an honest question. Like he honestly wants to know what Liam prefers in this moment.

Liam shrugs.

Liam shrugs and Zayn hesitates, squeezing his hip again. And so Liam nods. Just a tiny, probably hardly visible from underneath the blanket, but the next time Zayn breaths out Liam can _hear_ that Zayn saw him nod. Zayn is rustling around a bit more and Liam flops onto his side, pulling his knees up lightly and pushing his back towards Zayn.

The older boy chuckles lightly, but takes the invitation and scoots up behind Liam who is still completely covered with the blankets and wraps and a loose arm around Liam's waist. Liam giggles quietly against the fabric of the blanket, relaxing into the touch and when he feels a light push against the back of his neck he can't tell if Zayn accidentally brushed the skin there or if he tried to kiss him through the blanket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback? Your comments are always so lovely. xx


	3. Indoor Football

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has excessive energy and Louis gets rid of it (none sexually. I knot that's disappointing. :P)

They're halfway through their third week in the newly shared flat and all the craziness has slowly started to settle in. After the big bathroom blow between Liam and him in the previous week, Louis has tried to keep it on the down low. At least a little bit.

Liam is still mad at him Louis knew, but they arranged themselves and Louis can't help but feel accomplished when he sees Liam glancing around nervously whenever Louis enters the room, fearing the older boy is up to no good yet again. Louis loves the tension and the attention all the boys are giving him with for the ruckus he is causing.

Especially from Harry.

The tall clumsy boy is awfully endearing and Louis can't help but crave for his attention. He doesn't even know what Harry does to deserve his full attention. It's just him being himself, talking and telling stupid stories while knocking over things or stumbling over his own feet. All the while he always has an eye on Louis, gauging his reaction and Louis is always happy to shoot the boy a smile and a thumbs up, encouraging whatever stupid little thing Harry was doing at the moment.

And in order to keep Harry's constant attention fixed on him Louis likes to make sure that he is the first thing Harry sees in the morning. If he were to choose he would simply move into Harry's room altogether, because they like to cuddle at night and Louis likes to crawl into Harry's bed in the mornings. However, Harry always manages to untangle for Louis' limbs or kick him out of his room before they both fall asleep and Louis is left all by himself, cuddling with the pillows that aren't nearly as soft yet firm as Harry's chest is.

Louis won't complain though, too afraid that Harry is going to think it's weird and so he satisfies himself with setting his alarm clock on 9am every day and dipping into Harry's room for a good morning cuddle. Sometimes he comes across an already showered and fully dressed Liam who is munching on leftovers for breakfast and quirks an eyebrows at him, but doesn't say anything.

It's kind of a routine.

When he slips into Harry's room one morning near the end of their third week Louis can sense that something is different from usual. He closes the door behind him and stumbles through the dark room towards the bed, halting for a moment before he crawls in.

“Hazza?” he mumbles, his hands feeling around in the sheets, making sure he doesn't flop down onto the boy as he slides under the covers.

“Yeah, hi,” Harry replies clearly. Louis stops for a moment, listening to the silence that follows. Usually Harry is still fast asleep when Louis comes to cuddle him and they doze off together again for another hour or two before either of them feels awake enough to have a proper conversation.

“Why're you up?” Louis mumbles after a moment, still not moving from his somewhat semi-comfortable position with one of his legs still hanging off the bed.

“Dunno,” Harry mumbles and Louis can feel his shuffle closer before an arm wraps around his waist. Louis smiles into the darkness and turns onto his side, pulling both his legs under the duvet and moving closer towards Harry, until their knees bump together.

He still can't see but he can hear Harry's breath going slow and even, like his body is still asleep even though his mind isn't.

“Did you sleep well?” Harry murmurs after a while and as he speaks Louis can feel his breath against his face. They must be really close.

“Hmm,” he hums quietly. “Did you?”

Harry doesn't answer for a while and so the just lay there in silence, enjoying the warmth and the feeling of being close to each other. Or at least Louis is enjoying it. He really hopes Harry is too.

The younger boy shifts around after a while, kicking his legs free from under the duvet and letting out a loud sigh when he comes to a rest, his breath going quicker now. Louis snickers quietly into the pillow beneath his face.

“I got so much energy,” Harry mumbles angrily, pulling away his arm from around Louis' waist to rest it over his eyes instead. Louis misses the warmth of his embrace already, but he isn't going to whine or something equally as embarrassing so he laughs quietly, trying to ignore the almost hurtful draw of his body towards Harry's.

“Go work out with Liam or something.”

“At the ass crack of dawn, no thank you very much,” he replies and Louis thinks Harry is probably rolling his eyes even though he can't see.

“Well, you're up anyways, so..”

“No,” Harry sighs. “Not with.. _Liam_.”

“What's wrong with him?” Louis asks, but Harry has turned over again now, their faces super close again suddenly and Harry's hand between them pressing against Louis' chest. It's all a bit.. _much_.

They stay like this for a moment and Louis' eyes take a while to adjust to the darkness and the closeness of the new situation. He thinks Harry is pouting at him, even though he can't be sure. It takes a moment to sink in what the younger boys wants from Louis.

“I- No. _No,_ ” he says right away and Harry makes big eyes.

“Well, but you could-”

“No, Harry. I'm not going to work out with you,” he says sharply (but hey, he has good reasoning to do so. Can you imagine watching Harry being all sweaty and ridiculously hot _without_ jumping him right there and then? Yeah well, neither can Louis.) “Liam's a good guy. Go lift the couch with him or whatever he does in the morning that requires to rearrange the living room every single day.”

Harry doesn't reply to that, but pulls his hand back from Louis chest slowly. He doesn't roll away from him, but Louis can sense the younger boy's disapproval. Maybe even his disappointment.

“I'm just really not good at lifting weights,” Louis says quietly in an effort to save the situation. Harry huffs quietly next to him. “It's true! I couldn't even carry my suitcase in here, how do you expect me to stem the couch?”

“I don't,” Harry replies quietly and somehow he seems to have missed the playful tone of the conversation. That only makes Louis feel worse abut the whole situation.

“Only thing I'm good at is footie,” he says halfheartedly and it's not really supposed to be an offer, but Harry's hand is right back on his chest and their faces a little closer.

“Liam's going to be _so_ mad,” Harry breathes against Louis' cheek and there's a sparkle in his eyes that hasn't been there before.

“Let's do it,” Louis agrees, laughing quietly as they both launch off the bed and race each other down the hallway into the living room.

“What are gonna use as goals?” Harry asks, looking around the room. “And what as the ball?”

He goes around, searching through the room and Louis watches him do so, thinking that maybe he should have made Harry put on some more clothes. He is only in his boxers and Louis doesn't really see that going very well. If he's going to get hot and sweaty now, barely dressed, Louis might be in an uncomfortable position before he can score his first goal.

 _To hell with it_ , Louis thinks when Harry turns around a moment later a décor ball woven like a basket in his hands. It's usually part of the decorations in the living room and it's a little smaller than an actual football, but Harry is kicking it across the room already, shouting to Louis that the couch is his goal as, so Louis simply dashes after him, trying to steal the ball.

“Wait, where is your goal?” Louis asks laughing breathlessly, once he gets the ball (which he managed to do a lot quicker than he thought, he's just so pro).

“The chair,” Harry replies after looking around the room and then dashing right in front of the piece of furniture.

“What?” Louis replies with half a laugh. “It's so much tinier then the couch, that's not even fair, I-” he is interrupted by gleeful shouts as Harry steals the ball from him and kicks it aimlessly across the room, with the help of some higher power hitting the couch.

“Goooooal!” he yells and sticks his tongue out at Louis who is scrunching up his nose.

“That wasn't even fair,” he complains, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Never said I was playing fair,” Harry admits and he winks at Louis over his shoulder, before picking up the ball from behind the couch and starting to go at it again.

“Not again, Styles,” Louis bellows and dives after the ball, stealing it from Harry and making his way across the living room the shoot a goal himself. He cheers loudly and Harry pouts, almost falling over a few magazine that are laying on the floor now after Louis pushed them off accidentally.

Five minuets later the living room is a right mess and Harry is behind 17 goals.

“Good morning,” they hear a low grumble from the door way and turn to see Niall standing there, looking right pissed and about ready to yell at them for waking him with their yelling. His faces lights up however when he spots the makeshift football, caught under Louis' foot. “Can I play?” he asks eagerly and Louis laughs.

“You can be on Harry's team, he's right shit.”

“Am not,” the younger boys disagrees, crossing his arms over his chest though he can't help the corner of his lip tugging upwards.

“Yes you are, love,” Louis tells him with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

“That's cool man,” Niall tells him, jumping over the edge of the couch to stand beside Harry. “I'm quite shit too, we'll be a great team.”

Turns out Niall's definition of 'shit' is a little different from what Louis meant when he was talking about Harry, because Niall is actually quite good. He's not quite as reckless as Louis is and runs around the table or the chairs rather then pushing then out of his way as he goes, but still he makes for quite a fun partner to play against.

Harry has lost interest in the game about two minutes into playing with Niall on his team, because basically it's just Louis and Niall playing and Harry standing helplessly in the middle of their makeshift field, watching with amazement in his eyes as the other two work magic with their feet. He ends up moving out of their way and sitting down on the couch that isn't a goal, watching them play with big eyes.

Louis and Niall are up to a 5-5 tie when Zayn shows up and plops down next to Harry on the couch.

“You wanna play?” Louis calls breathlessly across the room in the middle of a battle over the ball.

“Oh, you need a break?” Niall challenges as he tries to trip Louis. Zayn doesn't answer, but neither does Louis, only glaring at Niall and doubling his efforts in winning this stupid game.

Once Niall and Louis both are breathless they decided to just go for a penalty shoot-out to avoid having to run around any more and falling over any more chairs. Louis thinks he already has more bruises from this twenty minutes game then he has ever gotten from a real full length match.

But that's okay.

Harry's watching.

They decide to use the couch as the goal, because the chair is just too tiny and if one of them stands in front of it, it's already blocked all the way. So the couch it is and Harry and Zayn move to a couple of chairs, just in case one of the shots gets a little sidetracked.

Louis and Niall both make their first shots and Louis' is just up to his second one when the door of the living room flies open and an enraged Liam stands in the doorway, glaring at all of them. Most of all at Louis though.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks, his voice barely above a whisper and Louis thinks this is even worse than Liam shouting at him.

“Well.. Footie?” he says carefully holding up the woven ball they had used. Admittedly the ball looks a little worse now, some of the branches broken and sticking out in all the wrong directions. To only make it worse the living room around them doesn't look all that different, though in their defense, none of it is damage beyond repair.

“Are you fucking serious?” Liam asks again, his eyes wider than ever and Louis wants to celebrate what he just said because this may be the first time he had heard Liam swear. Wait no, never mind there was the bathroom incident. But it's still a rarity.

“We'll clean it up, no biggie,” Niall says with a shrug and Liam turns a little green at that. His eyes travel from Louis and Niall to Harry and Zayn who are still sitting on a bunch of chairs, watching the scene curiously. Liam glares at Zayn for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest angrily.

“Seriously, Zayn?” he asks with a huff and then turns around and stalks away down the hallway out of their sight.

Once he is gone all the other three boys turn around to face Zayn instead, who has shrunken down a bit in his seat.

“Seriously, Zayn?” Louis asks, mimicking Liam's voice. He sees Harry trying to stifle a laugh, but Zayn only shrugs and gets up, not saying a word as he leves the living room.

“Oh he's so going after him!” Louis fake whispers as soon as Zayn is out the door, wiggling his eyebrows inappropriately. “I bet there's something going on between them.”

“Oh, not you too,” Niall groans, sinking down on the ground with a sigh.

“What?” Louis asks, looking from Niall on the floor up at Harry who is only giving him a shrug.

“Nothing, it's- nothing. Just you lot. But- let's get down to cleaning this mess up, before Liam gets his knickers in a twist again.”

 

~

 

That night things are still a little tense between all of them and Liam refuses to speak to anyone, so dinner is pretty quiet and only Harry and Niall make a little conversation, giving up after a while when none of the other boys join in.

“Right, so The Fast And The Furious is on tonight, if anybody's interested,” Niall offers as Harry takes away their empty plates once they're all finished their meals.

“Sounds good,” Louis tells him after receiving an approving nod from Harry. Zayn doesn't say anything and just looks over at Liam, who is looking down at his hands that are folded on top of the table. Awkward silence fills the room for a moment and Louis can feel things getting tense again.

“Look, we're sorry Liam. _I'_ m sorry. We won't play fottie inside anymore. Just watch the movie with us..” Louis says, trying to sound soft and welcoming instead of slightly annoyed. He can't tell if he succeeds, when Liam gets up from the table, shoots him a quick crooked smile and then excuses himself, saying that he is tired and off to bed.

When he is gone Niall takes a look at the clock on the wall and raises his eyebrows expectantly.

“Well, he does get up quite early,” Zayn offers as an explanation with a shrug and Harry only nods, giving Niall a look to let him know that the conversation is over.

It isn't completely over though, because when a couple minutes later they're all sitting in front of the TV and Zayn won't stop fidgeting Niall just gives him a look.

“Go after him then,” he encourages, barely moving his eyes off the screen. Zayn acts like he doesn't know what Niall is talking about.

“Seriously, mate,” Louis agrees. “Some of us are trying to watch the movie and you rustling around is nerve wrecking.”

Zayn just cocks an eyebrow at him, and well okay, maybe he has an arm slung around Harry's shoulder and maybe they've been talking and giggling for the first ten minutes of the movie straight, but whatever.

“Just go.”

“Fine,” Zayn hisses, getting up from the couch and leaving seemingly angry, but too eager to fool any of the boys.

After Zayn's departure a comfortable silence settles over the three boys left and they simply watch the movie, trying not to think about what Zayn and Liam might get up to in the room next door. Louis manages to avoid thinking about it pretty much all night until he and Harry are cuddled in Harry's bed, watching trashy late night reality TV-shows on the tiny little TV in the corner of the room.

“Do you think Liam and Zayn are.. like _that_?” Harry asks out of nowhere and Louis has to take a moment to pry his eyes away from the shenanigans going on on the screen and to think about Harry's question.

“Dunno,” he shrugs. “Neither of them seem.. you know..”

“What?”

“Gay.”

Harry laughs at that. “Just because they don't wear pink or what?” He giggles some more and pokes Louis' chest. “So what's a man gotta do to seem gay in your opinion?”

“I don't know,” Louis groans, trying to swat away Harry's poking fingers.

“All of that is pure prejudice, love,” Harry ads again, not pulling his fingers back, wiggling his eyebrows at Louis.

“I- Harry. Stop it!” he laughs as he tries to fight the younger boy off, both of them rolling through the bed now, the TV show long forgotten. “Get off me, get off!” he chants, but Harry is bigger and stronger and rolls them over, so he is halfway sitting on top of Louis, somewhat straddling his hips in an awkward way and holding both Louis' wrists in one hand.

“Do I seem gay to you?” Harry asks then and Louis chocks on his laugh, gasping for air as he looks up at Harry, not sure if he wants to see the younger boys' eyes or avoid them. But Harry's gaze is intense and captivating and Louis has no choice but to look. Their eyes are locked and Louis is worried that Harry can see his thoughts running wild. Running wild because.. _gay_? He has never thought about that. Harry was just _Harry_ and he just liked him for who he was so since when did all of that need a label?

The younger boy is still looking down at him and Louis thinks he may have stopped breathing because for a moment he sees bright spots flashing in his vision and next thing he knows is that Harry has let go of his wrists and shakes his shoulders.

“Lou? Lou?” he keeps asking and Louis coughs again, running one of his hands down his face, the other shakily grabbing Harry's arm to steady himself.

“God, are you okay?” Harry asks worriedly, his face hovering closely over Louis'.

“Yeah, sure,” Louis says, his voice sounding raspy and strained. He is sitting up and unconsciously pushes Harry back, so they both can sit up straight. Harry is still somewhat awkwardly hovering over his lap, but crawls around him quickly to let the smaller boy rest against his chest.

“I thought you blacked out for moment,” Harry murmurs as he puts a tentative hand around Louis' waist. Louis rests his hand above Harry's and a small smile unwillingly appears on his face.

“Yes,” he breathes, not sure what he's agreeing to. “I don't know what that was,” he finishes off, still a little thrown off and his brain feels like it needs to reload, but nevertheless happy that he doesn't need to answer Harry's previous question which had set all of this trouble of in the first place.

Harry holds him close through two more episodes of late night TV shows before he starts shuffling around, yawning loudly.

“Well, I, er, guess it's time for bed,” he says slowly, but Louis pushes back against his chest, refusing to move. Or to leave.

“Why can I never stay?” Louis asks quietly after a long pause in which Harry had let his thumb trail up and down Louis' upper arm. It can be really distracting. After Louis' question he stops trailing his fingers and just stares down at Louis. Louis can feel Harry's gaze on him, but refuses to look to meet his eyes.

“Erm, Louis. You- you never _asked_ to stay. You can, I guess. I mean, if you want,” Harry stutters through the sentence, shrugging after every other word. Louis turns to face him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I mean- Just..- yes. Yes, okay,” he nods. “I'm just gonna..” he starts aimlessly, pushing Louis off his chest a little to get off the bed and pull his shirt off. “Erm.”

Louis watches him for a moment, but then follows suit, stripping off his jeans and getting back on the bed, under the covers into Harry's arms. The younger boy giggles as Louis presses his cold toes against his calves and nuzzles into his chest.

“You're really tiny,” he whispers against Louis' hair and the older boy grunts in response.

“Am not,” he protests weakly as Harry brings his arms around his waist to pull him even closer. And well after that he can't really bring himself to care.

They lay in silence and Louis can feel that if he wasn't pressed up against six feet of cute boy he would probably get tried and dopey right now, but there's so much naked skin against naked skin and it's not just a morning cuddle. It's a lot more real.

“I am, by the way,” Harry mumbles after a long while against Louis' hair.

“Tiny?” Louis asks back, giggling against Harry's chest in confusion.

“Naw,” Harry groans and Louis can feel him sleepily squeeze his hip and in a vain attempt to scold him. “Gay,” he ads then with a murmur, dozing off into sleep and making sure that Louis will be awake for the next six hours thinking about the _meaning_ of this information.

 

~

 

Louis prides himself in how amazing he is at hiding how much knowing that Harry is gay means to him. He hadn't really thought about it before, because well he always thought Harry and him just fit together, but now that he knows that information seems so essential and loaded. Like how did he live without knowing this?

And that fact that Harry told him, that Harry wants him to know that he's into dick must mean something right? Louis thinks maybe he should tell Harry that he's into dick too, much more into Harry's dick specifically. But then he also thinks what if Harry only told him, because he thinks they're great friends? Because they are, really great, and Louis couldn't see him _not_ staying in contact with Harry after this.. Unless he fucks it up by forcing something onto Harry he doesn't want or isn't ready for yet.

So he just keeps quiet about it. It's better for all of them.

Probably.

Maybe.

Whatever.

The next few days are great. Liam comes around and Zayn actually talks (sometimes), Harry allows Niall in the kitchen and Louis would never ever admit that out loud, but Niall make better desserts that Harry. Fullstop.

Instead Louis tells him how great every else he cooks is and in return he's invited into Harry's cozy bed every night, pressing his cold toes against Harry's calves or his cold nose against his chest. It's comfortable really and if Louis were concerned things could stay like this for a while. The days aren't too bad anymore.

And since everything is so normal and so quiet Louis found himself a new activity. He knows it's not his best choice and it's going to cause a lot of trouble, but to hell with it. When he tells Harry about it, the younger but tells him off, but at the same time he is laughing and tangling their legs together, so really it can't be all that bad of an idea.

And well Liam just happens to be awfully suitable for his plan, because these days Liam is forehandedly pissed at him. And really, Louis can't blame him. Louis is always up to no good and Liam is just the easiest to gauge a reaction from, so he happens to be the victim. So far Liam had to endure multiple forms of incorrectly seasoned food and drinks, a variety of sexual innuendos, casual nudity, pepper in tissues and all the other little things Louis can actually manage to pull off with the little material they have got in the apartment.

He just wants to see how much more Liam is going to take before slapping Louis right across the face. (Not that he is particularly keen on that part, but it's part of the whole project, so well.)

He has another little surprised planned for Liam one Friday afternoon. He's rustling around his room with everything he needs when there's a quiet knock on the door.

“Hey,” Harry says softly when his head pops through the gap in the door. “I got my one-on-one now.”

“Okay,” Louis says with a smile directed towards Harry as he collects a few more things.

“What are you doing?” Harry asks then, eying the strange assortment of things on Louis' bed. “Is that for Liam?” he guesses and Louis flashes him an even wider smile.

“Looks good, doesn't it?”

“Looks like I'm glad I'm not here when Liam explodes afterwards,” he says, raising an eyebrow at Louis.

“It won't be so bad,” he promises. But well.

Everyone is wrong from time to time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FEEDBACK is always welcome. xx


	4. Peter & Wendy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis' prank went majorly wrong and Harry is there to pick up the pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s been like 500 years. I’m not feeling super good about my writing rn, but I think this part came out nicely, so hope you like it as well. x

When Harry comes back into the flat after his one-on-one he doesn't quite know how to describe the situation he finds himself facing. _A catastrophe_ , he thinks. Which – sadly enough – is by no means exaggerated.

Louis is nowhere to be seen, but it's clear he must have been somewhere around not too long ago, because Harry spots most of the things Louis had gathered in his room early today in order to prank Liam scattered across the living room now.

Other than that the first thing that catches Harry's eye is the couch. Which is, well. In flames. Or half in flames and half smudged black and soaking wet. He stares for another moment before Niall comes rushing past him with a bucket filled with water, yelling loudly with no real meaning behind his words as he dumps the water over the couch. Some of the flames die down with a loud sizzling sound and Harry can do nothing but stare.

Niall turns around and dashes back into the kitchen to get more water. A quick glance in the general direction of the kitchen lets Harry know that Zayn is save and all, sitting on the kitchen counter with a smoke between his lips and his eyebrows lifted in bored disinterest. Niall yells at him that if he's not going to help but the fire out to at least “get Liam the fuck away from the fucking fire, fuck shit.”

Which, well. Okay.

Harry looks back to the couch and the flames that are thankfully getting smaller and smaller. Right next to the still burning edge he spots Liam who only stares at the couch in disbelieve, like he can't quite grasp that it's actually _burning_.

Zayn comes walking from the kitchen and pushes past Harry to grab Liam's hand and tugs him away from the couch and back towards the kitchen. Liam fiddles with their entwined hands, but Zayn holds them together tightly. In the end Liam reaches up with his other hand, dropping what he had been holding in favor of plugging the cigarette from Zayn's lips and flicking it into the sink.

Zayn growls at him and Harry is actually surprised, that he doesn't snap at Liam like he would have done if any of the other boys would have thrown away his smokes. Harry doesn't focus on that for too long though, his eyes distracted by the item Liam had dropped before reaching up for the cigarette. From where he is standing Harry can't really tell what it is and so he carefully moves closer, not really sure what he's scared of. They surely wouldn't set anything that's alive on fire, would they? Or explosives?

On the other hand, with Louis you never know.

So Harry is careful as he creeps closer, ignoring the other three boys who are still fuzzing with the fire in one way or another. The bundle on the floor looks soaked and slumped down on the ground Harry can't really tell what shape it would normally be. It's mostly black, probably from fire, but the material looks like fabric and maybe some plastic, so Harry assumes it must be (or must have _been_ ) part of the couch.

When he gets close enough to touch, he kicks it lightly with his food so it rolls over and sort of unfolds until Harry can clearly what it used to be. Instinctively he takes a step back, scrunching his nose up. He knows being afraid of dolls isn't exactly rational and he isn't even afraid of them, okay? He just doesn't like them. Especially when they're headless like this one.

Harry looks away from the doll and swallows hard before reaching out for Niall who is passing him yet again with a bucket full of water on his way to the couch.

“What even happened here?” Harry asks lowly, well aware of Liam and Zayn not too far away in the kitchen, talking quietly. Or well, Zayn is talking while Liam is throwing some sort hysterical fit. To be fair though, the couch did just light on fire, so maybe that's a good enough reason for a little tantrum.

“You don't even wanna know,” Niall breathes heavily through clenched teethes and he looks properly pissed.

“Yeah, no I- Why is-?”

“-The couch on fire?” Niall asks for him. Harry only looks at him with big eyes, waiting for him to elaborate. Niall growls at him. “Why don't you ask your precious _Louis_?” he spits and Harry gets a weird cramping feeling in his stomach.

Instinctively he looks over his shoulder towards the living room door which leads into the hallway and into the other rooms, where he suspects Louis to be. He looks back at Zayn and Liam for a moment before turning to go find Louis. He's halfway across the room when Niall comes after him and grabs his arm, squeezes it tightly.

“Also,” he begins, looking no less pissed than before. “You can tell that if he ever dares coming out of that room again I will rip his head off. Personally. With my bare hands.”

“O-Okay,” Harry replies tentatively, trying to pull his arm back without attracting any attention towards his actions. Niall only hisses at him and then drops Harry's arm, though the younger boy can feels his eyes follow him all the way to the door until he has left the room.

Standing in the hallway Harry grabs his arm and looks at the pink marks Niall's fingers have left there. It's not too bad and it won't bruise, but _hell_ what must Louis have done to get all the other boys _this_ upset with him?

Harry pushes down the hallway in order to find the oldest of their little group. When he reaches Louis' door Harry leans against it carefully, pressing his ear to the wood. He can't hear anything going on in the room, but hesitates another moment before knocking softly against the heavy door. There is no answer, but after a few long moment Harry pushes the door open anyways, slipping into it quickly and closing the door behind him.

The room is completely dark, but Harry can see a tiny bit of light falling through the curtains by the fake windows.

“Louis?” he whispers into the darkness, slowing edging towards the bed, because that's where he suspects to find the smaller boy curled up underneath the duvet.

“Go 'way,” comes a mumbling reply and Harry still can't see Louis, but his knees are bumping against the mattress now and Harry thinks that's good enough. He sinks down carefully and lets his fingers roam over the soft fabric, searching for the outline of Louis' legs. When he finds them he lets his fingers travel up and scoots along Louis' body to lay down with him, their faces together closely (or so Harry thinks, _hopes_ , he wasn't going to stick his fingers up in Louis' face just to make sure they were right up close).

“Louis,” he mumbles again, reaching out for Louis' hands, but instead he finds that the boy has the duvet pulled up to his shoulders, his hands and arms buried deep underneath, out of reach for Harry.

“No,” Louis mumbles back, shuffling away a little, the sound even more muffled than before. Harry pulls his hand back and stays quietly where he is, listening to Louis shuffle around under the duvet.

“Come on, Lou. Talk to me,” Harry urges, poking playfully in the area where he suspects Louis' back.

“Harry,” Louis whines back, wiggling his legs around a bit and that's when Harry realizes- oh. Louis is facing _away_ from him. Way to talk to the back of his head, woohoo!

Harry shuffles even closer then, wrapping and arm around the boy from behind and pressing his front to Louis' back firmly. Louis struggles against his grip but Harry only holds him tighter and after a while he can feel Louis' body giving up the fight and sinking back into Harry's embrace heavily. Harry smiles quietly to himself as he nuzzles Louis' neck and revels in the warmth of the small, firm body pressed against him. He could get used to this, he thinks.

They lay in silence for a while and Harry only holds Louis, not speaking up about the sheer disaster the living room is or the fact that Louis is laying in bed during the afternoon, pretending to be asleep. Louis stays still against him for quiet some time. Longer actually than Harry had seen him go without fiddling around before. It's nice, really nice, but eventually Louis begins shuffling around and speaks up.

“You can.. You can say it now.”

“Say what?” Harry asks, honestly curious, his lips brushing against the back of Louis' necks as he talks. He can feel the boy shiver underneath him and he likes to think he knows why.

“I know you're probably dieing to say it.”

“What, Louis?”

“' _I told you so,_ '” Louis replies and Harry's not sure who he's trying to imitate, but it's horrible no matter who's impression it's supposed to be.

“Your impressions are horrible,” Harry tells him with a soft laugh and Louis only grunts in return.

They stay quiet again after that and Louis snuggles back against Harry's chest. Harry's not sure if he's allowed to _ask_ , or if for Louis the topic is already over with. In the end curiosity gets the better of him.

“So. What exactly happened to, you know.” He pauses. “Set the couch on fire?”

“You don't wanna know,” Louis replies, just like Niall had before.

“I think I do,” Harry keeps pushing only maybe purposely letting his lips brush against Louis' neck again. Maybe.

“You _really_ don't wanna know,” he emphasizes then and Harry growls angrily and maybe a bit disappointed.

Louis sighs loudly. “Doesn't matter now anyways. I'll probably have to like, leave, or I don't know. Liam hates me. Zayn hates me by association. Even _Niall_ hates me.”

“They don't hate you,” Harry disagrees, trying not to think about what Niall had said earlier. It was playful, right? A playful death thread. That sounds.. about right. Yeah.

“They do,” Louis said stubbornly, turning his head to the side lightly, trying to watch Harry from the corner of his eyes. The room was still pitch black though and Harry doubted Louis could see any more than he could.

“They're a little cross, yeah. But nothing an apology and a FIFA tournament couldn't fix.”

“Liam's threw a doll's head at me,” Louis shoots back and okay, that explains the headless doll. He reaches for Harry hands and brings it up to his face. At first Harry's not sure what Louis is going for, but then his fingers are rubbing over a swelling just below Louis' right eye and he can feel the blood pulsing through it.

“He threw it at my _face._ ”

“Well, you set the couch on fire,” Harry wants to say, because he kind of understands where Liam is coming from, but he also thinks that this won't help right now at all. So instead he says “Rude!” trying to sound as convincing as possible as he lets his fingers caress the swollen skin soothingly and kisses the back of Louis' neck.

“Well, I guess that was it,” Louis mumbles after a while, pushing his cheek back into Harry's hand to prompt Harry to keep going. Harry's hand follows Louis' wish, but he's not sure that it was a conscious decision made by his brain. Probably not.

“Was what?” Harry asks after a long while, almost too long.

“That was.. That's how far I could push Liam. Before he, you know. Punches me.”

“You _did_ provoke it,” Harry points out and Louis chuckles lowly.

“Yeah, I'm an idiot, aren't I?”

“You're a child,” Harry tells him instead, his fingers still working over the skin of Louis' face. “At heart. A child at heart,” he adds then after a moment and Louis snorts.

“ _Of course_ at heart. Nothing about my _body_ is childlike in case you hadn't noticed.”

 _Oh, I have noticed_ , Harry thinks but he doesn't say anything, only grins even wider and buries his face in Louis' neck.

The silence lingers for a while and Harry feels content with Louis' warmth pressed up against him.

“Peter Pan,” he says suddenly and Louis stops humming which he had unconsciously started and neither boys noticed until he stopped.

“Wha-?” Louis asks back, turning over the tiniest bit so his body is pressing even closer against Harry in an effort to face the taller boy.

“Peter Pan. The boy that never grows up. You like Pe-”

“Oh shut up!” Louis scoffs, pushing back against Harry's chest fondly. “You're an idiot,” he adds then and scoots away from Harry, but only to turn over so they're facing each other. He shuffles closer again, close enough to cuddle against Harry chest and press his lips against Harry's shirt. It's quiet- Well. Yeah.

“Hey,” Harry laughs. “Stop it,” he mutters when Louis starts nibbling as well, because. _Because_. They're pressed together quiet closely and Louis having his mouth pressed against Harry's chest anywhere near his nipples is going to get them in an awkward situation. Eight inches of an awkward situation to be exact.

Fortunately Harry follows Louis' guiding hands who press him back the tiniest bit to create just enough room between them for their lips not to be touching when Harry shuffles up and drops his head next to Louis' on the pillow.

“Well, hi,” Harry breathes and Louis can feel the breath of air on his face and on his lips and it's really distracting.

“Euh, hi,” he mutters back eloquently, biting his lower lip as he watches Harry's features in the low light. His eyes slowly started adjusting to the darkness, but he isn't quiet sure whether to trust them or not when he sees Harry's eyes flutter down towards his mouth and then back up.

He probably only imagined it, he thinks as he keeps staring back at Harry, letting his own eyes drop unconsciously, licking over his lips. Louis does it again, the dropping the eyes to his mouth and back up thing, he thinks.

And again.

And again.

And wow, they're close all the sudden. No, scratch that. They were close before now they're almost too close. Too close be casual before. Almost close enough to.. kiss.

Half a second later that's what they're doing, Harry thinks, he's not quite sure, too caught up in Louis' smell and his warmth and the feeling of his lips against Harry's and okay, they're definitely kissing. Louis hands come sneaking up from under the duvet and press against his chest now comfortingly. Harry lets his own hand travel from the bruise on Louis' cheek to his hair to feel his soft hair, to pull him closer.

A content little sigh escapes his lips and Louis swallows it, his lips curling into a smile as he nibbles on Harry's bottom lip.

And then it's over, way too soon for Harry's liking, but his heart is racing and he's gasping for air which probably means he should embrace the fresh load of oxygen flowing into his lungs now. He gasps again and thinks he sounds like an overweight eighty-year-old going for a run, but Louis sounds just the same, so he couldn't care less.

Eventually gasping turns into laughing and then into kissing again. They're breathing into each other's mouth, laughing through the kiss and Harry thinks it's pretty much perfect. He pulls Louis against his chest when they pull apart again and the younger boy rests there, their fingers tangled and entwined somewhere underneath the duvet. It's _really_ nice.

“So, who are the others?” Louis asks out of nowhere after a while and Harry has no clue what he's talking about.

“Come again?”

“The others. When I'm Peter Pan. Who are they?”

“Oh,” Harry laughs. Louis was still thinking about _that_.

“Who are you?” Louis keeps asking and Harry chuckles again.

“Well I'm just _Harry_. But the others..” he trails off for a moment and thinks. “We'll Niall's definitely a leprechaun.”

“Should've seen that one coming,” Louis agrees, giggling against Harry's chest. He's pressing kisses against the shirt again and Harry thinks harder, trying to distract himself.

“Zayn.. Hm. Zayn stepped right out of some fashion magazine.”

“Vogue,” Louis grins and hums the melody, making Harry laugh.

“Yeah. Zayn's quite the Vogue model. Fucking cheekbones.” He hesitates a moment after he said that, not sure how Louis' going to take it. The older boy had been quite obsessive over Harry's attention before, even Harry had realized that. He just didn't know if _now_ it was going to get worse or maybe Louis would let up.

Laughter rumbles through Louis' chest and Harry lets out a shaky breath.

“He can be a model,” Louis mutters with a little shrug. “No brains and all that.”

Harry giggles at that. “You're _mean_ ,” he points out but Louis only shrugs again and Harry thinks he feels him grin against his chest.

“Liam?” Louis mutters against Harry's shirt after a while and his breath his hot through the fabric against Harry's skin, but he tries to ignore it.

“Doll head throwing Liam?” Harry asks and Louis chuckles against his chest.

“Yeah.”

“Well, doll head throwing Liam is.. Hulk. The incredible Hulk,” Harry announces proudly, but Louis only pinches his side.

“What?” Harry shrieks, trying to bat his hands away. “He _does_ work out all the freaking time.”

“Yeah, but. Why does everyone get to be something cool and I'm just- just _Peter Pan_?” Louis complains and Harry chuckles quietly.

“Would you rather be the _leprechaun_?”

Louis pulls away at that, tilting his head up to give Harry a look. The look still shows that Louis is discontent but Harry bats it away, shuffling down a bit until his and Louis' head are next to each other.

“Peter Pan is the best. He can fly. And has Tinkerbell.” Louis grimaces at that and Harry pokes his cheek. “Besides. Peter Pan is my favorite.”

Louis' face visibly lights up at that and he grins wide enough that Harry thinks his face must hurt.

“Right well,” Louis says then, tapping his finger against Harry's collar bone rhythmically. “When I have to be Peter Pan.. you gotta be Wendy.”

“No,” Harry pouts. “Wendy is a _girl_.”

“But you have the curls and won't make you wear the blue dress until our third date,” Louis reasons with a glint in his eyes and Harry can't help but grin at him.

“Blue dress?” Harry prompts and Louis all but smiles innocently back at him. “Cross dressing? So.. is that going to be a thing, or?”

“Well, Harry Styles just because you got me in bed right after our first kiss doesn't mean I'll have to give away everything right away, does it now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you thiiiiiink? All Larry shippers happy? x
> 
> TALK TO ME, it makes me happy. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)


	5. Smokes & Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis talks himself out of his mess and Zayn is helplessly in love with Liam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's actually been over three months since the last update and I'm honestly really, really sorry! I hope you like this chapter and it can make up for the fact that I'm a sloppy writer. :S

It's a week since what Zayn likes to refer to as _The Incident_ in his head. It sounds a little stupid he has to admit, but they don't ever talk about what happened, so he doesn't get in a situation where he has to say it out loud.

Harry and Louis come creeping out of Louis' room a day and a half after Niall had to extinguish the couch. The younger boy prods Louis until he chokes out an apology. It's not as half arsed as Zayn expected it to be, but that's only appropriate he figures as Louis blushes under all of their gazes.

“Okay, I fucked up. Okay!” he snaps in the end and Harry throws an arm around his shoulder to pull him closer, whispering soothingly against his temple. His lips linger for a while too long, but before Zayn can start to dwell on that Niall steps forward and boxes Louis arm hard. The older boy yelps and curses until Niall pulls him into a hug, mumbles something along the lines how much he hates him and whether he wants food.

So half an hour later Niall, Louis and Harry are sitting in the kitchen, munching on sandwiches. Liam refused to go with them and Zayn decided to stay, so they're both sitting on the (not burned) couch only a few meters away from everybody else, but ignoring them as best as possible.

“He apologized,” Zayn tries to reason quietly as Liam only fumes on, his arms crossed tightly in front of his chest.

“He set the bloody couch on fire.”

“Yeah, I know,” Zayn mumbles, stroking up and down Liam's upper arm. His flexed upper arm and those muscles, _fuck_.

He really, _really_ shouldn't be thinking about this right now.

“How come he doesn't get kicked out or something?” Liam rambles on, not even trying to keep his voice down though Louis is still sitting only a few meters away. His muscles clench and unclench under Zayn fingers and it's really distracting.

So he drops his hand.

Liam looks up at him immediately like he just now realized that Zayn has been stroking his arm all along.

“Why'd you stop that?” he almost snaps and Zayn frowns at him.

“I ehh-” he stammers. “I thought.. that.. maybe, eh-”

“Well, don't,” Liam says again, still forcefully but much softer than before. “Touch me,” he demands and _wow_. That's kind of all Zayn wants to do, like, ever.

Somebody behind them clears their throat and Zayn and Liam both turn around to face the other three boys who have all stopped eating and are looking in their direction instead. Louis looks an awful lot like he's doing his best to swallow down a comment and judging from the sour look on Liam's face that's a good choice.

“Mind turning it down a bit?” Niall eventually says, a sly smirk curling up the sides of his lips. Louis grins along with him.

“What?” Liam snaps, furrowing his brows deep.

“The flirting, you nit,” Harry says lightly, giving them a playful grin. Zayn can feel his stomach swoop and his heart pounding ridiculously fast. Liam seems to have stopped breathing for a moment. When he regains his breath he all but glares at Harry.

“Says the one who's been fucking _Louis_ since the day we got here!”

 

~

 

And that's how things stay for an entire week. Tense. Awfully tense and awkward. There's no real living together even possible because Louis and Harry stay hurled up together even more than before and Zayn tends to stick with Liam. Niall switches in between the split groups, but since Harry and Louis seem to be more fun he tends to go with them most of the time.

Zayn can't really blame him.

He likes Liam, _adores_ him really, him and his serious side. But he also thinks that Liam's not making it exactly easy for himself or anyone really to get out of this majorly awkward situation again.

Zayn tries to sneak away to smoke, to regain some calmness before he'll head to Liam's room for the night. They spend most evenings together now that there isn't much going on in the living room anymore. They usually watch a movie or two before one of the falls asleep and the other stumbles into their own room to crash there.

That night though Liam finds him in the kitchen mere seconds after he lit his cigaret. As soon as he's within reaching distance he grabs the fag from Zayn's lips and dumps it in the sink.

“Don't think I can't smell that,” he tells him with a stern look.

“Come on, Li,” Zayn says with a pout. “It's only my second today.”

Liam only shakes his head. “You don't need that.”

“It's to release stress.”

“You can release stress in other ways.”

Zayn's stomach flops again, like it seems to do all the time lately, with Liam around. He'll just say or do something and Zayn doesn't even think Liam notices how much it bothers Zayn. How much it gets under his skin and how flustered it leaves him.

Liam tilts his head and looks at him, moving a little closer.

“You coming to bed then or what?” he asks and Zayn has to swallow hard. He can see Liam's eyes darting down to his throat and then back up slowly, getting caught somewhere on their way up.

“You know what,” Zayn says, wetting his lips and swallowing again. “I really need that smoke tonight. Why don't you go ahead without me? I'll brush my teeth for you.” He tries to grin, but it comes out crocked and Liam looks at him a bit funny. Zayn prays that he doesn't notice his trousers getting tighter and tighter.

“The smell will be in your clothes.”

“I'll change,” Zayn promises, his throat getting dry again. He really needs that smoke.

“You could just take your shirt off,” Liam says coyly, giving Zayn another grin. “I could help you with that.” He moves closer again, tilting his hips forwards and Zayn is getting a seriously big problem here.

Liam is slowly reaching for him, tugging on the hem of his shirt lightly and Zayn's brain simply goes blank. He steps back from Liam and turns his body towards the kitchen unit, to hide his now clearly visible erection.

“I'll think about that, just lemme smoke first yeah? I'll change and all and be there in a minute,” he promises hastily, giving Liam one last sad attempt of a smile before turning away from him and fumbling with a new cigaret. As he lights it and takes a first relieving pull he can hear Liam move through the room and finally shut the door behind him.

Zayn lets out a breath he doesn't know he has been holding, bending over and watching the smoke coming from his mouth swirl in the air.

“Oh shit,” he says straightening back up and running his free hand up and down his face. Then he takes another drag from his cigaret deep enough to feel it deep in his lungs, until it starts to hurt and then holds it for as long as he can. He feels a little lightheaded once he breathes out, but better already, in a way that only his smokes can calm him.

He takes his time finishing it, fishing the one Liam had thrown away out of the sink and throwing them both into the trashcan. He simply stares at them for a while, listening to the quiet ticking sound of the big clock hanging above their dining table.

It takes him a minute or two to pull himself together, but the raging erection in his trousers demands to be taken care off, so he rushes in the shower and washes the smoke of his skin along with all the effects Liam had on him.

When he rushes back into his room he pulls on pants and a pair of joggers before he finds himself standing bent over his suitcase with a shirt in his hand, not knowing what to do. What was Liam doing, what was he saying? Did he mean the things he said? Did he really expect Zayn to show up with no shirt on? Or did he expect him to wear one so he could take it off?

Zayn takes a look at himself in the mirror, the plain black shirt dangling from his hand. _Not too shabby_ , he thinks, but then he also remembers Liam and his personal-trainer-body or whatever he has going on and puts the shirt on right away.

He shuffles out of his room and across the floor to quietly knock on Liam's door.

“Come in,” comes a quiet reply.

Zayn pushes the door open and his eyes immediately fall onto the bed where Liam is sitting. He gives him a half grin and pushes inside, letting the door click shut behind him quietly.

“Hey,” he mumbles, slowly walking forwards.

Liam gives him a tired smile in return. He looks exhausted, but still so _so_ beautiful, Zayn thinks, as he takes in the pictures in front of him. Liam's wearing an old hoodie and he's tucked in underneath the duvet, only his head and shoulders poking out as he's watching the TV with big eyes. It's cute really, in Zayn's eyes.

He approaches the bed slowly and for a moment he thinks Liam is too entranced in the show he's watching to notice him, but as soon as he gets within reach of the bed Liam's head turns and he looks at him. Zayn expects him to invite him underneath the duvet as he does most nights, but instead he only gets a tilt of Liam's head and crawls up next to him, but on top of the duvet. It's still kind of cozy.

As soon as they're both comfortable enough, their thighs pressing together and their shoulders aligned, Liam's eyes go back to the TV and he just watches whatever is going on on the screen for quite a while.

Zayn feels a little stomped with the turn of events. They rarely ever actually watch what's on TV. Usually they talk right through it, making comments here and there. The TV used to be more of an alibi to sit together and chat. Now after what Liam had said in the kitchen Zayn feels even more let down as he tries to carefully nudge Liam's knee with his own and the younger boy just moves away.

He tries poking him again, but Liam only squirms away as Zayn's fingers trail down his side, which is still covered with the duvet. So Zayn gives it up.

They stay quite and still for an hour, watching whatever it going on on TV before Zayn has enough and pushes off the bed altogether.

“Pretty tired,” he says even though he is not. “Guess I'm heading to bed now,” he then says even though he's probably just going to lie awake for the next couple of hours.

“Okay,” Liam mumbles, looking up at him for a short moment. He makes no move to get up whatsoever and Zayn feels really hurt then, because.. because they've been giving each other hugs goodnight since their first evening spend together. He's even kissed Liam goodnight before. When the boy was asleep, and only on the cheek, but still.

He turns to walk away, but halts halfway to the door.

“I-,” he says and pauses, waiting until Liam's eyes are on him. “You know how they say, you shouldn't go to bed being angry at someone.”

“Are you angry with me?” Liam asks, looking a little flustered.

“No,” Zayn huffs out a quiet laugh. “But I think you are with me.”

“Oh,” is all the reply he gets. Liam shrugs.

“Are you?”

Liam shrugs again. “I-” he begins after a long pause, biting his lower lip. “I'm not angry, I think. I'm more.. confused maybe?” He looks unsure of the answer himself, lowering his eyes to the duvet.

“Confused?” Zayn asks, trying not to let show that he's feeling very much the same.

“I'm just-” Liam huffs out a breath of air, untangling his hands from his sheets and running one through his hair, taking a few deep breaths. “Okay, so. I don't know if I got all of this completely wrong, but.. you're giving me mixed signals.”

He rushes out the last part and Zayn only blinks at him for a few long seconds.

“Excuse me?”

“No, no _excuse you_ or whatever!” Liam says almost angrily now, bobbing up and down on the mattress a bit. “I don't know if you're doing this on purpose, or if, if you're blind or I don't know. It's just _not_ nice.”

“What am I doing exactly?” Zayn asks, his palms getting sweaty now as he watches Liam's face grow angrier and angrier.

“Mixed signals Zayn, for God's sake. Playing hot and cold or hard to get or whatever kind of game this is.”

“Erm,” is all Zayn can say. He blinks at Liam walks closer towards him until he reaches the bed. “I didn't know I was- I mean, I didn't know you were- It's just..”

Liam stares back at him now and they've both gone quiet. The TV is still playing in the background but for once Liam is not paying attention to it and instead to him and him alone and Zayn thinks he needs to make the most of it.

“I don't know what kind of.. signals you were getting from me, but. But there should only be _one_ and I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, I was just.. I don't know.” He shrugs again. “This was my idea of flirting I guess. Didn't go too well, I see.”

“You were trying to flirt with me?” Liam asks, blinking with big eyes now, his mouth hanging open a little.

“Yeah,” Zayn says with a little laugh. “Did I do so bad you didn't even notice?”

“Yeah. No!” Liam says, chuckling along with him. “I mean.. Sometimes I thought.. but. What about just now in the kitchen? I mean, you were practically _running_ from me.”

“That was because you caught me kinda off guard and basically I was hard before you even had to mention undressing me, so yeah. I was a little overwhelmed,” Zayn rushes out, blushing a light shade of red. In the light coming from the TV he can see Liam blushing as well.

“Okay,” Liam breathes, chuckling some more as he lowers his head in a vain attempt to hide his blush.

“Okay,” Zayn agrees, biting his lip some more, tentatively taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“That was not all that complicated, actually,” Liam summons and Zayn just grins.

“Leave it to _us_ to make to super fucking complicated and awkward on top of it.”

“We're just that great,” Liam nods, grinning madly. He scoots back a bit to lift the duvet up. “You gonna get in then, or what?”

Zayn grins so wide at him his cheeks are starting to hurt, but he couldn't care less as he creeps closer and closer towards Liam's warm body until their pressed together tightly. He finds Liam's hand under the duvet and carefully tangles their fingers together, holding his breath until Liam squeezes his fingers back comfortingly.

They share a grin and Zayn holds his breath some more until Liam presses their lips together, flicks off the TV and they cuddle together for a good night of sleep.

 

~

 

A couple days later all the others find out when Niall walks in on Liam trying to sweet talk Zayn out of smoking and pampering him with kisses instead. Obviously Niall sees it as his task to yell his new found information through the entire flat and Harry and Louis come stumbling into the kitchen not long after, grinning madly at the two of them.

“Knew it!” Louis exclaims triumphantly. “You owe me ten bucks,” he adds and hip checks Harry.

“Look who's talking,” Zayn says defensively and Louis has absolutely no problem with getting on his toes a smacking a kiss on Harry's lips right in front of them. The taller boy blushes a bit, but somehow after this little heart to heart everything seems to be forgiven for the most part and that night they're all spending time together for the first time in weeks.

“Bring more crisps and popcorn, servant,” Louis orders with a laugh and pokes Harry until he gets up to fetch them snacks and drinks. Liam inevitably gets up and follows the youngest to help him carry everything, because they all know that Harry would rather risk dropping everything instead of going twice.

Niall is flipping through the channels already and Louis is telling him when to stop and when to keep on going. When it lands on some horror movie Niall stops for a moment even though Louis keeps yelling “NEXT!”.

“Let me just check this out for a moment, Lou,” Niall says, though Zayn doubts that Louis can hear him over his own screams.

“I don't wanna watch this. I don't!” he says and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Nothing horrory. Horroric. Can you say that? It must be something funny. Or else Harry won't be able to sleep all night and then guess who'll have to up with him, huh?” Louis prompts and Niall groans. Zayn only smiles quietly, remembering a conversation a had with Harry in their first week about all the horror movies Harry loves and Louis piping in, admitting that he always thought those were unnecessarily scary.

“Let's watch something comedic then, yeah?” Louis prompts some more, fighting Niall for the remote now. “Is that a word? Can I say that?” When he can't reach the remote, because Niall is holding it above his head, Louis only punches Niall in the stomach and marches off, plopping down next to Zayn.

“Can I say that? I _comedic_ a word? Is _horroric_ a word?”

“Louis,” Zayn groans with a laugh, pushing the smaller boy away.

“What!” Louis exclaims, huffing at Zayn. “Liam, come here your _boyfriend_ is being a tit!” he yells on top of his lungs then and moment later a shattering sound comes from the kitchen corner. They all turn their heads to see Liam standing with scattered popcorn around his feet, an empty bowl in his hands.

“Thanks you _fucker_ , we hadn't discussed this yet,” Zayn mumbles to Louis who's throwing his head back with laughter. Niall is cackling away along with him and Harry has started picking up the pieces of popcorn.

Liam is still only staring at him when Zayn turns to look at him again, but when their eyes meet the corners of his lips turn up the tiniest bit. Zayn gives him a full on grin then and shrugs lightly and Liam only shakes his head fondly and then nods.

“Talking about mixed signals,” Zayn mouths at him and then Liam is full on laughing.

 

~

 

In Zayn's eyes their last week in the flat together is definitely the best. Not only because he gets to be with Liam all the time and it's only the two of them at night, but also because he's grown so much closer with the other three boys around.

He hadn't thought it possible for the longest time, but he actually plans on staying in contact with all of them after their time in the flat ends.

“What do you say,” Harry says on their last morning together as they're all seated around the breakfast table “we all take part of the ten grand we get to go on holiday together. Something wicked and expensive. Like.. the Maldives. Five Start Hotel. All that kinda jazz.”

“Sounds good to me,” Niall agrees with a wide grin.

“You don't even have to ask, babe,” Louis agrees, grinning even wider than Niall. “What about you two?”

They all turn to face Zayn and Liam, who are sitting hunched together opposite of Louis and Harry. Liam gives Zayn a questioning look and pulls one shoulder up.

“I'm in if you are, Li,” Zayn says.

And that's the way things stay for the five of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big shoutout and THANK YOU for all those of you who actually made it to the end of this. Thanks for all the support and for those of your who kept reminding me why I love writing so much!!
> 
> Some feedback? Comments?
> 
> Find me on tumblr ---> hannahazza.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo. How was that? What do you think?  
> Feedback and comments always make me love you!! xx
> 
> Find me on tumblr: http://hannahazza.tumblr.com/


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